PDBsum entry 5dw3

Lyase

PDB id: 5dw3

Contents

Protein chains

383 a.a.

Ligands

TRP ×2

TRP-PO4 ×2

Metals

_NA ×4

Waters ×301

References listed in PDB file

Key reference

• Title: Directed evolution of the tryptophan synthase β-Subunit for stand-Alone function recapitulates allosteric activation.
• Authors: A.R.Buller, S.Brinkmann-Chen, D.K.Romney, M.Herger, J.Murciano-Calles, F.H.Arnold.
• Ref.: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2015, 112, 14599-14604. [DOI no: 10.1073/pnas.1516401112]
• PubMed id: 26553994

Abstract

Enzymes in heteromeric, allosterically regulated complexes catalyze a rich array of chemical reactions. Separating the subunits of such complexes, however, often severely attenuates their catalytic activities, because they can no longer be activated by their protein partners. We used directed evolution to explore allosteric regulation as a source of latent catalytic potential using the β-subunit of tryptophan synthase from Pyrococcus furiosus (PfTrpB). As part of its native αββα complex, TrpB efficiently produces tryptophan and tryptophan analogs; activity drops considerably when it is used as a stand-alone catalyst without the α-subunit. Kinetic, spectroscopic, and X-ray crystallographic data show that this lost activity can be recovered by mutations that reproduce the effects of complexation with the α-subunit. The engineered PfTrpB is a powerful platform for production of Trp analogs and for further directed evolution to expand substrate and reaction scope.